Posts with «language|en-us» label

MIT’s new modular lunar robot has ‘worms’ for arms

MIT engineers have designed a walking lunar robot cleverly inspired by the animal kingdom. The “mix-and-match” system is made of worm-like robotic limbs astronauts could configure into various “species” of robots resembling spiders, elephants, goats and oxen. The team won the Best Paper Award last week at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Aerospace Conference.

WORMS (Walking Oligomeric Robotic Mobility System) is one team’s vision of a future where astronauts living on a moon base delegate activities to robotic minions. However, to avoid “a zoo of machines” with various robots for every task imaginable, the modular WORMS would allow astronauts to swap out limbs, bases and appendages for the task at hand. For example, they could snap together a spider bot to crawl inside hazardous lava tubes to drill for frozen water or assemble an elephant-like pack robot to haul heavy equipment. They could even make a goat / ox combination to transport solar panels. And when they finish the task, they can disassemble it and return it to storage until it’s needed for something else.

The system includes a worm-like appendage, which can snap together with a chassis through a twist-and-lock mechanism. Wok-shaped “shoes” can then snap onto the appendage’s other end. Finally, a small tool allows astronauts to release the block’s spring-loaded pins when it’s time to disassemble. The team has already developed a six-legged prototype, about the size of a go-cart, using software that coordinates multiple worm limbs. They’ve successfully demonstrated assembly, disassembly and navigation in a recent field test.

“Astronauts could go into the shed, pick the WORMS they need, along with the right shoes, body, sensors and tools, and they could snap everything together, then disassemble it to make a new one,” said George Lordos, Ph.D. candidate and graduate instructor at MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “The design is flexible, sustainable and cost-effective.”

MIT

The team spawned the idea in 2022 as their answer to NASA’s Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge, an annual competition for university students to conjure innovative ideas. In that year’s edition, NASA challenged students to develop robots to move across extreme terrain without wheels. The MIT team focused on a lunar robot that could navigate the moon’s South Pole, which some suspect could include frozen water — essential for astronauts’ long-term survival — but also complex terrain with thick dust, rocky slopes and lava tubes.

As the students brainstormed solutions, they drew inspiration from the animal kingdom. “As we were thinking of these animal inspirations, we realized that one of the simplest animals, the worm, makes similar movements as an arm, or a leg, or a backbone, or a tail,” says deputy team leader and AeroAstro graduate student Michael Brown. “And then the lightbulb went off: We could build all these animal-inspired robots using worm-like appendages.”

Although each WORMS appendage weighs about 20 pounds on Earth, they would be only about three pounds in the moon’s atmosphere, making it easy for astronauts to assemble, disassemble and reassemble them like a high-tech Lego set. The team is already working on a second-generation model with longer and slightly heavier appendages, with an eye on heavy-equipment hauling bots.

“There are many buzz words that are used to describe effective systems for future space exploration: modular, reconfigurable, adaptable, flexible, cross-cutting, et cetera,” said Kevin Kempton, an engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center and judge of the 2022 BIG Idea Challenge. “The MIT WORMS concept incorporates all these qualities and more.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mits-new-modular-lunar-robot-has-worms-for-arms-175146649.html?src=rss

Samsung explains its 'fake' Moon photos

Samsung is hoping to talk its way out of a controversy over its camera processing technology. The company has shared an explanation of the Moon photo detection system it has used since the Galaxy S21. If you have Scene Optimizer turned on, AI detects when you're taking a clear photo of the Moon at 25X zoom or above. The tech lowers the brightness, captures multiple frames (to produce a bright, low-noise picture) and uses a neural network to enhance the detail using a high-resolution reference image for comparison.

You can turn Scene Optimizer off. Samsung also notes that this won't work if you either take a snapshot of the obscured Moon or use an image that clearly wasn't taken on Earth. The Moon is tidally locked to the planet, so you'll always see the same lunar surface unless you go to space.

Samsung

The defense comes after Reddit user Breakphotos alleged that Samsung was faking Moon images by adding detail that wasn't present in the raw scene. To make the case, Breakphotos even snapped pictures of blurry, low-resolution images on a computer screen — there's no info the phone could recover from the shot. Even with blown-out exposure, the device appeared to add info that simply wasn't there.

This isn't an outright fake. Samsung is using the actual shot as a baseline. However, its algorithms are clearly going to an extreme by producing photos that don't represent what you get through the lens. The company appears to be aware of this, too, as it says it's refining Scene Optimizer to "reduce any potential confusion" between taking photos of the actual Moon and mere images of it.

This isn't the first time a phone manufacturer has received criticism for manipulating photo output, of course. Some brands have had beauty modes that mask perceived body and skin imperfections to create unrealistic portraits. However, Samsung is effectively claiming its phones can take technically impossible photos — you may buy a Galaxy S23 Ultra under the misguided impression that someone's sharp, crisp lunar image reflects what the phone can physically produce.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/samsung-explains-its-fake-moon-photos-170233896.html?src=rss

‘Ghostwire: Tokyo’ heads to Xbox Series X/S on April 12th

After debuting on PlayStation 5 and PC last year, Ghostwire: Tokyo is heading to Xbox Series X/S and Game Pass. Developer Tango Gameworks announced Wednesday that the game will arrive on Microsoft’s current generation consoles on April 12th. That same day, the studio will release the free “Spider’s Thread” update for all platforms.

Descend into the #GhostwireTokyo Spider's Thread Update on April 12, available on PlayStation 5, PC, and for the first time on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox Game Pass! pic.twitter.com/ZeYHBegvPn

— Tango Gameworks (EN) (@TangoGameworks) March 15, 2023

The DLC adds a new game mode that will challenge players to complete a 30-stage gauntlet. As you progress through the mode, you’ll earn in-game currency you can spend to purchase upgrades for your run. Separately, the update adds new locales and missions within the game’s supernatural take on Tokyo for players to explore and complete. Complementing the new content are extended cutscenes designed to provide more insights into the game’s story. Good thing too because Engadget’s Mat Smith thought the game was begging for DLC to flesh out some of its more ambiguous plot points.

With today’s announcement, Ghostwire: Tokyo becomes the last Bethesda Softworks PS5 exclusive to receive an Xbox release date. Alongside Deathloop, Bethesda, before its acquisition by Microsoft, agreed to make the game a timed PlayStation 5 exclusive.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ghostwire-tokyo-heads-to-xbox-series-xs-on-april-12th-162825617.html?src=rss

CWA union files another unfair labor charge against eBay-owned TCGplayer

TCGplayer, the eBay-owned trading card marketplace, is facing its fourth unfair labor charge in the space of two months. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) claimed that, one business day after TCGplayer employees voted to form eBay's first union last Friday, the company fired a worker for engaging in union activity.

The CWA called the firing of worker Iris St. Lucy “retaliatory” in the wake of the election. The union claims that TCGplayer “management has escalated its anti-union war against workers” as a result of the vote. All non-supervisory workers at TCGplayer's authentication center in Syracuse, New York (who numbered 272 as of Friday) are now represented by the union.

Since TCGplayer workers announced their second unionization attempt in January, the CWA has filed three other unfair labor charges with the National Labor Relations Board. Among other things, the CWA has accused the company of requiring employees to attend anti-union meetings, interrogating workers and monitoring those who wore clothing or badges that identified them as supporters of TCGunion-CWA, the union they eventually formed under the CWA.

“Not only are eBay and TCGplayer violating labor law, the company is undermining its workers’ rights to union representation, fair wages, dignity on the job and the ability to support their families," CWA secretary-treasurer Sara Steffens said in a statement. "TCGplayer needs to stop these attacks and commit to bargaining a contract in good faith.”

Engadget has contacted TCGplayer for comment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cwa-union-files-another-unfair-labor-charge-against-ebay-owned-tcgplayer-160641406.html?src=rss

You can now ‘enhance’ your LinkedIn Profile with AI-written 'suggestions'

LinkedIn is the latest platform to hop on the generative AI bandwagon. The company is adding AI-powered “writing suggestions” and job descriptions to its service as it looks for new ways to infuse AI into its platform.

The writing suggestions are meant to make it easier to fill out key profile fields that LinkedIn says can otherwise feel “daunting” to complete: the “about” and “headline” sections near the top of each profile. Now, with the new “enhance” tool, LinkedIn Premium subscribers can generate descriptions based on their experience.

The company says the tool, which uses the same OpenAI models that power ChatGPT, is meant to preserve “your unique voice and style” and will draw from your job experience and skills, as well as LinkedIn’s own “insights” into what makes a good profile. In an example of a completed “about” section provided by LinkedIn, the tool generated a first-person summary of an individual’s job experience that reads almost like the beginning of a cover letter.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn also says it’s starting to test AI-written job descriptions. In those cases, hiring managers will simply need to fill out the job title, company name and a few other basic details, and LinkedIn will create a detailed draft of a relevant job description.

Of note, the company is positioning its AI writing features as more of a starting point than a final product. In both cases, LinkedIn says that users should review and edit the AI-generated text to check for accuracy. But the company says that both could be a major time saver for members who want to offload some of the more tedious writing tasks associated with LinkedIn.

These writing tools aren’t LinkedIn’s first foray into generative AI. The company also recently introduced “collaborative articles,” which rely on a combination of AI-written text as well as contributions from individual LinkedIn “experts.” Elsewhere, the company is also adding new online courses dedicated to generative AI-related topics.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/you-can-now-enhance-your-linkedin-profile-with-ai-written-suggestions-160054549.html?src=rss

This is the spacesuit NASA's Artemis astronauts will wear on the Moon

NASA and Axiom Space are finally ready to show what Artemis III astronauts will wear when they walk on the Moon. The two have unveiled a prototype spacesuit that crews will use for moonwalks near the lunar South Pole. As promised, the design is meant to accommodate a wider range of bodies, including women. It's also more flexible than past suits, and includes exploration-oriented tools.

The Artemis III mission is currently slated for December 2025. It will represent the first crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 touched down in 1972, and is poised to include the first woman to walk on the Moon as well as the first person of color. The two people who reach the surface will stay there for just under a week and carry out as many as four moonwalks that include rover expeditions and ice sample collection. Two other crew members will remain aboard an Orion capsule that will collect the crew when it returns using a SpaceX Starship. 

This spacesuit isn't the only one NASA will necessarily use. Other vendors are competing for orders that would handle future Moon landings and International Space Station activities. However, it might be the highest-profile example — it'll be the one that helps NASA make history.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/this-is-the-spacesuit-nasas-artemis-astronauts-will-wear-on-the-moon-144528407.html?src=rss

How to organize all of your tabs on Chrome and other browsers

We’ve all been there. Maybe you were neck-deep in a work project, or you hopped too far down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, but at a certain point you looked up and realized you were drowning in a mess of browser tabs, with no clear way to put them all in order.

Thankfully, there’s a variety of features you can use to tidy up your browsing space. We’ve broken down the most helpful tab management tips and tricks for the four most popular browsers (Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox), from lesser-known built-in tools to some useful add-ons from third parties.

How to organize tabs in Chrome

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Google Chrome is by far the most popular web browser in the world, but some of its built-in tab management tools may not be immediately apparent to some users. One trick is to use “tab groups,” which lets you cluster multiple tabs into groups that you can label and color-code. This makes it easier to distinguish between different topics, or simply separate work-related pages from the rest. Clicking a group’s label will collapse or expand all tabs within.

You can create a group or add tabs to an existing group by right-clicking on the one you want to move, selecting “Add tab to group,” then choosing where you want the tab to go. Alternatively, you can just click and drag a tab in or out of a group to add or remove it. All of this still works if you’ve selected multiple tabs simultaneously (which you can do by holding Ctrl on Windows, or Cmd on macOS, as you click).

If you right-click on a group’s label, you can change the name and color, ungroup all the tabs contained within it, close the group entirely or move it into a new window. You can also do the last of those by simply dragging the group label out of its current window. If you close a tab group accidentally, note that you can restore it from Chrome’s three-dot menu, hovering over History, finding the group’s name and clicking “Restore group”.

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Regardless of whether you use tab groups, you can quickly search through all of your open tabs by using the “Search tabs” button. This is the downward-facing arrow in the top right corner of your window. You can also pull this up by hitting Ctrl + Shift + A on Windows, or Cmd + Shift + A on macOS. This will show you a tidy vertical list of all your open tabs, plus a handful that you’ve recently closed. You can close tabs directly from here as well, and the menu will break out any open tabs that are currently playing audio or video. You can also search through your open tabs directly from Chrome’s address bar. Just type “@tabs”, then hit the space bar or Tab to initiate it.

If you like to order your tabs by putting them in distinct windows, you can give each a custom name for better organization. If you have a bunch of work-related tabs in one window, for instance, you could call that one “Work”. To do this, pull up the window you want to name, right-click the empty space next to the new tab (or “+”) icon and select “Name window.”

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

From that same menu, you can also select “Bookmark all tabs” to bookmark all of your open tabs and put them in a particular folder. Hitting Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + D will bring you to this same function.

Tab management isn’t as big of a hindrance on smartphones, where you might only look at one tab at a time. Still, we’ll note that Chrome lets you create tab groups on Android by tapping the square “Switch tabs” button, then holding and dragging a particular tab over to whatever other tab you want to group it with.

That feature isn’t available on iPhones and iPads, but you can still search through open tabs by hitting the same Switch tabs button, then selecting the Search icon in the top left corner. You can also bookmark one or more open tabs from the Switch tabs menu, after pressing and holding an open tab. For multiple tabs, press Edit, then Select Tabs, check off the tabs you want to bookmark, then hit Add To… > Add to Bookmarks.

How to organize tabs in Edge

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Microsoft Edge is built on the same codebase as Chrome, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that its tab management features are similar to those found in Google’s browser. It, too, has a tab grouping feature, which works in effectively the same way: Just right-click on one or more tabs and select “Add tab(s) to group.” As with Chrome, you can give each group a custom name and color, and you can quickly collapse or expand the tabs within each group by clicking its label.

Also like Chrome, hitting Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + A will pull up a tab search menu, which vertically lists your current and recently closed tabs and distinguishes any media-playing tabs. The “@tabs” address bar shortcut mentioned above won’t work here, but you can still assign custom names to windows.

Another way to access some of Edge’s tab-related tools is through the dedicated “tab actions” icon in the top left corner. To make this visible, click on Edge’s three-dot menu button, then go to Settings > Appearance > Customize toolbar, then activate the “Show tab actions menu” toggle. Here, you can pull up the tab search menu, a list of recently closed tabs, and a list of Edge tabs you have open on other devices.

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

The tab actions menu also lets you turn on Edge’s “vertical tabs” mode. This moves your tabs from their usual spot above the address bar to the left side of the window. This view won’t be everyone’s favorite, but the wider space can make it easier to identify which tabs you have open. If you prefer to keep the tab actions button hidden, you can swap between the standard and vertical tabs views on Windows by pressing Ctrl + Shift + , (Comma).

Like other browsers, Edge also lets you save tabs as bookmarks (or “favorites”). But we’ll also give a quick mention to the browser’s “Collections” tool, which you can access by pressing Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Y or hitting the icon in the top right corner that looks like two squares and a plus sign. This is more of a native web clipper than a full tab manager, but if you want to stash web pages alongside images, text notes and the like, you can hit “+ Add current page” within a given Collection to add your current tab to it. On macOS, you can also right click a tab to add all open tabs to a Collection at once.

How to organize tabs in Safari

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Like Chrome and Edge, Apple’s Safari browser allows you to organize tabs into distinct groups. There are a few ways to set this up. For one, you can click the downward-facing arrow in the top left of the Toolbar. From here, click New Empty Tab Group, or select New Tab Group with # Tabs to put all the open tabs in your window into their own group. (The “#” is just whatever number of tabs you have open.) You’ll be prompted to give each group a custom name. You can find these same options under the File menu or by two-finger clicking any open tab.

Click the Show Sidebar button in the top right corner to view, rename, delete and rearrange your tab groups as needed. If you two-finger click a tab group’s name in the Sidebar and select Copy Links, you’ll make a neatly formatted list of all the links within that group, which you can paste into a doc or chat. The icon at the top of the Sidebar that looks like two overlapping squares with a plus symbol gives you another way to create a new tab group. You can also open the Sidebar by going to File > Show Sidebar or pressing Cmd + Shift + L on your keyboard.

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

To add a new tab to a group, two-finger click the tab, select Move to Tab Group, then choose where you want it to go. If the Sidebar is open, you can also drag a tab into a group directly. To quickly swap between groups, click on your current group’s name in the top left corner, then select the group you want from the resulting dropdown menu. These tab collections will sync across multiple Apple devices if they’re connected to the same iCloud account.

The Sidebar can work somewhat like the vertical tabs view that’s available in Edge. If you hover over “# Tabs” at the top of the Sidebar or the name of any tab group, you’ll see a rightward-facing arrow. Click that, and you’ll see a vertical list of all the tabs nested within. You can access similar views for your bookmarks or Reading List at the bottom of the Sidebar. Safari doesn’t let you hide the horizontal tab bar like Edge, however.

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Annoyingly, Safari doesn’t allow you to select and drag multiple tabs at once from the tab bar, so separating a chunk of tabs into separate windows can feel clunky. You can easily sort your tabs, however, by two-finger clicking one (or opening the Window menu), then choosing Arrange Tabs By. From here, you can reorganize all your current tabs by their page title or website.

To more comfortably see what tabs you have open, click the Tab Overview icon, which looks like two overlapping squares in the top right corner. This presents all your tabs in a grid as large thumbnails, which can make it easier to find a particular page. You can also get to this page by selecting View > Show Tab Overview, pressing Cmd + Shift + \ on your keyboard, or two-finger clicking on a tab group in the Sidebar.

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

In the top right corner of this Tab Overview screen is a search bar. This function is also available on iPhones and iPads. The downside is this search will be limited to just the tabs in your current group, not those in separate tab groups or windows. Simply typing a keyword in the address bar will usually suggest a few relevant tabs you have open, too, but this isn’t comprehensive.

For sites you plan to revisit regularly, you can bookmark a tab by hitting Cmd + D, or going to Bookmarks > Add Bookmark. To bookmark multiple open tabs, select Bookmarks > Add Bookmarks for These # Tabs.

Many of these tricks are also available on Safari for iPhone and iPad. To create a tab group on an iPhone, hit the Tab Overview button, touch and hold a tab, then choose Move to Tab Group. Alternatively, just long-press the address bar while viewing a web page. To look through your tab groups or add all your open tabs to a group by tapping the downward-facing arrow at the bottom of the Tab Overview screen (or top right on an iPad).

How to organize tabs in Firefox

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

Mozilla’s Firefox isn’t as popular as it used to be, but it remains worthwhile if you care strongly about data privacy, customization and independence from the usual tech giants. That said, its native tab management tools aren’t as robust as those in Chrome, Edge or Safari. There are many extensions you can add to close the gap – we’ve noted a few below – but by default, there’s no tab grouping feature, custom window names or vertical tabs mode.

You can still see a tidy list of each window’s tabs, however, by clicking the “List all tabs” button, which is the downward-facing arrow in the top right corner. Above that list you can also access a tab search function. If that’s too cumbersome, typing a relevant keyword in the address bar will display any corresponding open tabs at the bottom of the dropdown list that pops up. Alternatively, you can put a % symbol before or after a keyword search in the address bar to limit your search to just your currently active tabs.

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

As with most browsers, Firefox lets you pin tabs, create bookmarks, close several tabs at once and drag multiple tabs into new windows simultaneously. To put all your current tabs into a bookmark folder, right-click on any tab, choose “Select All Tabs,” right-click again and choose “Bookmark Tabs.”

To open all bookmarked tabs in a folder, go to your bookmarks menu or bookmarks toolbar (depending on where it’s saved), right-click, then select “Open All Bookmarks.” If you want to search for a specific bookmark, put a * symbol before or after a keyword query in the address bar to limit a search to solely your bookmarks.

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

For a little extra organization, note that Firefox also lets you assign custom tags to your bookmarks. You can add these in the menu that pops up whenever you click the star icon for a specific web page, or by clicking Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + O to bring up your full bookmarks library then adding tags as needed. You can also get to the latter by hitting the three-line menu button on the right side, then selecting Bookmarks > Manage Bookmarks.

After setting this up, you can look for a bookmark just by typing out the tag(s) in the address bar. You can also make it so a search in the address bar only pulls from bookmarks you’ve tagged by adding a + symbol.

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

You can see a clean-looking list of several recently closed tabs on the Firefox View page. To access this, just click the little Firefox logo pinned in the top left corner. It’s still possible to reopen your last closed tab with the usual Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + T shortcut as well.

Finally, we’ll also make note of Firefox’s “Containers” feature. This is aimed more at privacy than reducing tab clutter: The idea is to separate your browser cookies between distinct clusters of tabs, so you can log into multiple accounts for one website in the same window, or make it so a site can’t see any information about tabs outside of its specific container. Using containers distinguishes your tabs by different color codes, though, which gives it a modicum of organizational value.

You’ll need to install this as an extension on macOS, but once it’s set, you can add one or more tabs to a container by right-clicking it, selecting “Open in New Container Tab,” then choosing the container you want. There are four presets by default; to create a new container, click the three-line menu button and select Settings. Then, look for the Tabs submenu, click the “Settings…” button next to “Enable Container Tabs,” click “Add New Container,” then choose the name, color and icon you want.

Third-party tab extensions

Jeff Dunn / Engadget

All of these built-in browser tools should make navigating tab hell a little more manageable, but if you’re still not quite getting what you need, there are tons of third-party extensions and add-ons that can help. Perhaps the most popular is OneTab, which is available for Firefox, Chrome, Edge and Safari. This adds a little icon by your address bar that, when pressed, quickly collapses all open, non-pinned tabs in your window into an orderly list of links on a separate page. From there, you can then open and delete tabs individually or all at once, drag them into different groups of links you’ve previously OneTab’d, or turn a list of links into one shareable URL. There are other add-ons along these lines, but OneTab is clean, fast and dead simple to use. Plus, it can help make your browser a bit less of a memory hog.

Tab Session Manager for Firefox, Chrome and Edge works similarly. It saves all of your open tabs at once, regardless of whether they’re in different windows. It doesn’t close your tabs; instead they’re displayed as a vertical list in a dropdown menu. You can add tags to specific clusters of tabs, sync “sessions” between devices, and search for tabs right from its menu. You can also access tabs from windows you’ve closed.

Firefox users can particularly benefit from tab managing add-ons. Tree Style Tab, for instance, adds a detailed vertical tabs view, while Window Titler lets you add custom tags to windows. And Simple Tab Groups may not be quite as intuitive as the built-in tab grouping tools built into Chrome, Edge or Safari, but it still provides that sort of functionality in Firefox.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-organize-browser-tabs-150011935.html?src=rss

FBI says Americans lost $10.3 billion to internet scammers in 2022

If you know someone who fell for an online scam last year, you're far from alone. The FBI reports that Americans submitting incidents to the agency lost $10.3 billion to internet scams in 2022, a steep jump from $6.9 billion in 2021. While there were fewer complaints (800,944), certain ripoffs were still very problematic. Investment scams were the most common and costliest schemes. Related fraud losses jumped from nearly $1.5 billion in 2021 to $3.3 billion, and most of that value came from cryptocurrency scams — losses surged from $907 million to almost $2.6 billion in 2022.

There were some bright spots. While investment scams were the on the rise, ransomware complaints fell sharply. There were just 2,385 complaints about these digital extortion attempts versus 3,729 the year before, and they led to a relatively modest $34.3 million in losses. And while phishing was the most prevalent scam type with over 300,000 complaints, the damages were limited to $52.1 million.

The FBI warns that its figures don't represent the entirety of online scams in the US. Not everyone who was the victim of a ransomware attack reported it to the bureau, Executive Assistant Director Timothy Langan says. However, he says the reports help law enforcement spot trends and otherwise deal with threats. The Investigators have better sense of what they need to address, even if they don't have the full picture.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/fbi-says-americans-lost-10-billion-to-scammers-in-2022-144514762.html?src=rss

T-Mobile will buy Ryan Reynolds-backed Mint Mobile for up to $1.35 billion

Just under three and a half years after Ryan Reynolds bought into Mint Mobile and became the public face of the provider, the Deadpool star is set to make a windfall from his investment. T-Mobile has announced an agreement to buy Mint Mobile's parent company Ka’ena for as much as $1.35 billion in cash and stock.

The final price will depend on Ka’ena’s performance for a certain period before and after the deal closes, which is expected to happen later this year. Ka’ena also owns Ultra Mobile, a provider focused on international calling, and wholesaler Plum.

Reynolds is believed to own between 20 and 25 percent of Mint, according to The New York Post. He'll stay on in his creative role as Mint spokesman. Mint was founded in 2015 and spun out from Ultra in late 2019.

Mint, which has run on T-Mobile since its inception as a mobile virtual network operator, found success thanks to its charismatic pitch man and budget-conscious pricing. T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert confirmed in a YouTube video regarding the news that Mint will keep its $15 per month pricing.

T-Mobile said in a statement that Mint and Ultra will complement its existing prepaid services. Mint founders David Glickman and Rizwan Kassim will continue to manage the brands, which T-Mobile says will generally operate as a separate business unit. Meanwhile, T-Mobile is hoping to tap into the marketing nous of Mint and its famous co-owner.

“Mint has built an incredibly successful digital direct-to-consumer business that continues to deliver for customers on the Un-carrier’s leading 5G network and now we are excited to use our scale and owners' economics to help supercharge it — and Ultra Mobile — into the future," Sievert said. "Over the long-term, we’ll also benefit from applying the marketing formula Mint has become famous for across more parts of T-Mobile."

“Mint Mobile is the best deal in wireless and today’s news only enhances our ability to deliver for our customers," Reynolds said. "We are so happy T-Mobile beat out an aggressive last-minute bid from my mom Tammy Reynolds as we believe the excellence of their 5G network will provide a better strategic fit than my mom’s slightly-above-average mahjong skills."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/t-mobile-will-buy-ryan-reynolds-backed-mint-mobile-for-up-to-135-billion-135324151.html?src=rss

The Morning After: Meta lays off an additional 10,000 workers

Meta has announced another expansive round of layoffs to cut costs. CEO Mark Zuckerberg says the company is letting go of another 10,000 workers and closing "around 5,000 additional open roles that we haven’t yet hired." This follows layoffs of around 11,000 employees last year. The company is reducing the size of its recruiting team and will inform affected employees later today. It’ll then announce layoff and restructuring efforts of its tech departments in late April and business teams in late May. Zuckerberg, who will soon go on paternity leave for his third child, recently described 2023 as a "year of efficiency.” He added in his note: "I think we should prepare ourselves for the possibility that this new economic reality will continue for many years."

– Mat Smith

The Morning After isn’t just a newsletter – it’s also a daily podcast. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.

The biggest stories you might have missed

Samsung’s Galaxy A54 has a bright 1,000-nit display and looks more like a flagship phone

​​Sennheiser's 'Profile' microphone for streamers gets a lot right

OpenAI's new GPT-4 can understand both text and image inputs

Apple's 10.2-inch iPad is back on sale for $250

Google's upcoming Pixel 7a is already in someone's hand

Netgear's first WiFi 7 router offers extra-low latency for gaming

Google is putting its chatbot AI smarts into Gmail, Docs, Sheets and more

The updates will begin for US users by the end of the month.

NurPhoto via Getty Images

Google’s catch-up with ChatGPT continues, and the company is bringing its own take on next-gen chatbots and AI assistance to, well, all of its Workspace products. According to the company, you’ll be able to "draft, reply, summarize and prioritize" emails, "brainstorm, proofread, write and rewrite" text documents, autogenerate images and even video with Slides, have Sheets create formulas autonomously and automate transcription notes in Meet video calls.

Continue reading.

Fitbit won't make you pay for your own weekly health data anymore

You'll no longer need to pay $10 a month to see information for the past 30 or 90 days.

One of our biggest complaints about Fitbit products is that $10 monthly fee to see your historical data. Until now, you could only see up to seven days' worth of your breathing rate, resting heart rate and heart rate variation, and just 90 days of everything else, without paying for a subscription. Today, Google announced it's making "more of the insightful data from Fitbit's Health Metrics Dashboard available without a subscription to all of its users." You can now check 30- and 90-day views of your data, without paying for it.

Continue reading.

It took a TikToker barely 30 minutes to doxx me

Kristen Sotakoun found out way too much about me in a consensual test of my online security.

In 30 minutes or less, TikToker and Chicago-based server Kristen Sotakoun can find out your birthday. “My first thing is to be entertaining. My second thing is to show you cracks in your social media, which was the totally accidental thing that I became on TikTok.” Sotakoun, who goes by @notkahnjunior, calls it “consensual doxxing.” Engadget’s Katie Malone offered her social media profiles up to the test.

Continue reading.

YouTube TV adds multiview streaming in time for March Madness

You'll be limited to sports during the early access phase.

YouTube TV is rolling out an early access multiview feature showing up to four sports streams simultaneously. Visit the Top Picks For You section and you can pick from pre-chosen multiview groups, such as NCAA March Madness games. There's a full-screen view for each match and you can switch the audio and captioning to the stream that captures your attention. The feature works on smart TVs and living room media players that run YouTube TV. You won't need a high-powered device as all the processing to YouTube's servers – your hardware only has to handle one feed.

Continue reading.

Litter Robot 4 review: A great but imperfect self-cleaning litter box

Would you pay $699 to avoid scooping litter?

Engadget

OK, I’ll say it: I would pay that much to avoid scooping up pet poop.

I'm not sure I want to continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-meta-lays-off-an-additional-10000-workers-115209372.html?src=rss